discipleship
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Maturity is not guaranteed by age. I am meditating on maturity. We can grow old and still remain stuck in childish notions, habits, and patterns. At the same time, some people begin to mature remarkably early. They embrace who they are. They acknowledge their pain and struggles. They decide to move forward. They open themselves…
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Recognizing the Essential Ingredients of Authentic Christian Discipleship “If there’s no roux, it ain’t gumbo.” Some ingredients are essential. Without them, a thing is not what it claims to be. Someone recently told me, “I tried following Jesus, and it destroyed my life.” I had to wonder: Where did you follow him? Where did he…
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A Pastoral Reflection Do I Know My Neighbor? When someone asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus told a story. Stories have a way of reaching places in us that explanations cannot. They move past our defenses. They settle into memory. They speak to the heart while the mind is still trying to organize the…
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“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”— 1 Corinthians 3:6 Some work is too important to be measured by our own harvest. That thought has been following me through several reflections lately. I have been thinking about trees we plant but may never sit under, seeds we sow but may never see sprout,…
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Danger and safety are not necessarily at odds with each other. We pass through dangers safely when God is with us. What must be protected is protected. In the same way, the church is both a shelter and a force. It is a refuge in the world for those under attack. At the same time,…
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